Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 6: books

Around noon or what they decide it was noon Lis stood up from her position and moved toward Idra. She was reading again completely absorbed by her book. If you put yourself close enough you could even hear her humming something, obviously whatever she was signing sounded creepy and chilling to everybody else expect Lis.

When she is reading she is so calm and relaxed. It’s hard to think that such small creature possess a small army of robots and just this morning was ready to peel me alive. However I’m probably the only one that can think so. Her humming would probably sound threatening and creepy as if she was plotting to kill you.

She moved even closer to peek what she was reading with such happy mood.

‘screaming whispers’ by unknown. How did she get access to it. I thought I restricted it. Well I probably forgot, not that someone other than me has ever read it. I made the digital copy from this unknown physical book that I founded in a remote and dismissed book-store. It’s a strange and macabre book, but somehow I like it.

Lis loved that book. It was a refreshing story with no good ending and no heroes. Just physically bland humanoid creatures that exist with their own limit and errors. It was a brutal story with some black and white images like a light novel. If you are able to image what is written you will probably have nightmare for months.

‘screaming whispers’ follow princess Iris of an ancient mystical empire. One day a man appeared and helped her discover an innate power that only she and the mad man had. The cryptic man drove her into a world of madness and untold horrors. To increase her power she had to discover her sad reality, piece by piece. In her family no-one cared about her. Her people hated her guts for being the last dark magician, a creature of misfortune and despair. Her empire committed atrocities every day to feed the useless nobility and so on. One day she started earning whispers, from within the castle walls. Scared she asked the man, but his only reply was that the time has come. He did his job, now it was Iris time to help their kind survive some unknown enemy. The rest of the book is a continuos stream of brutal and terrifying events, most done by Iris herself. The book end with an old Iris on her throne which is dripping in blood and made out of carved bones. The last party of holy heroes screaming desperately while rotting in front of her throne. Nobody could save them, not even the gods that they worshipped. The world was left alone, it was finally free by the worst enemy of all creatures. Gods. But right at the ends, when all was finally silent. Whispers start coming from underneath her skin that was no longer old. They started screaming louder and louder Iris name, elevating her as their only queen. Their immortal queen reborn in blood and total despair.

“hey, it’s time to have lunch”

Idra didn’t flick, too much interested in the book. So Lis took the pad from her hands that followed trying to take it back like a kid with a toy.

“it’s time to eat. You can read the rest after we eat and have gone to take a look at Morea”

“we may have a problem, this night we need to talk”

“what, a problem for a book? This is not how friendship works”

“it’s not because you are stopping me from reading, I know that if someone doesn’t stop me I will keep on reading till I am almost dead. It’s the book. But I can’t tell you here”

well whatever, I guess she didn't like it or she is just strange.

Afterward Idra stood up as well and followed Lis, first to the canteen and then at the medical bay. While at the canteen Idra asked Lis to get extra food for Morea. She pointed at some specific food because using Idra’s words “Morea need specific nutrients to replenish the one consumed by the omni-cure that I gave her. If she doesn’t get them she won’t heal”. After the food stop they reached the medical bay where an almost totally cured Morea was waiting for them. When they entered, Morea immediately started a conversation with Idra.

“what did you gave me? Your omni-cure, I want to know how you made it”

“Even if i tell you now you won’t be able to produce it. If i take this ship as the best lean’s technology then you lack medical knowledge to produce the omni-cure.”

“well we can make new machines, and then…”

“machines are not the only lacking things. For now I can’t tell you much. Now let me start a basic check-up.”

“i’m a field doctor myself, don’t need your check-up, I’m almost fine, another day of rest and I will be ok.”

“No you won’t, omni-cure ‘consumes’ you own body but can regenerate it. You lack basic elements like iron and sugar. So now eat this, if not you will not be ready in 2 days”

saying so Idra putted the plate full of food in front of Morea.

“you eat this, than take another pill. Tomorrow you will be completely healed but we will bring you more food for the last nutritions resupply. After tomorrow you will be discharged.”

“thanks. Even if I’m here because of you.”

“I have made a mistake so I’m fixing it”

“are you sure that you can’t tell me how this cure works? I could save a lot of lives with it”

“I can tell you, then you will built it and then you will kill all your patients with it”

“what?!? I will never kill those who need my help, I’m a doctor”

“I don’t know about that, however your species lack the knowledge to make them works. Machine with no purpose, or just unable to recognise the damage tissues will bring more harm than help”

“so you are saying that you would teach me if I find a way to make them work? And how can I do it?”

“the base of the omni-cure is a small insect like robot that send informations to a bigger processing unit. Start by making the robot and the command unit with all your medical knowledge. Then make them small. When you make them as big as a cell then a will help you out to make them dissolve in blood.”

“that’s a lot of things to do. I kinda understand why you said we can’t make it. But if its need an external process unit where is yours?”

“it’s classified information.”

“I get it, you told me enough. How the hell did your people become so much advanced in such short time?”

“you don’t want to know. Also I can’t tell you neither due to esterian’s laws.”

“understandable. Guess you are not that bad. I don’t want to slap you any-more”

“you can’t take back your words. We made a decision to became even so you will slap me”

“but with your cure I’m already satisfied, I don’t feel the need to hurt you any longer”

“I don’t care. You have to respect you word. Now if you will and even if you will not I excuse myself. I want to analyse the door closing system.”

Saying so Idra moved away and put herself close to the nearest watertight door to observe its basic principles. Morea’s and Lis words to start a new conversation were completely ignored. She did what she had come to do, no more reason to stay expect that Lis still had her data-pad. Soon after Lis got out as well and she took Idra back to the main deck giving back the pad. She tried to explain to Idra how conversations works but she didn’t care. She was not reading but she wasn’t interested in what Lis had to say neither. Sometimes it’s really hard to understand what she wants. She can make long conversation and then 10 minutes later she doesn’t even reply. But by looking at her she is probably thinking of something, hopefully nothing that will harm by crew.

The rest of the day had gone without problems, now it was night-time and Lis was impatient to hear what Idra wanted to talk about.

Lis was sit on her bed waiting for Idra to finish her business in the bathroom.

Maybe she forgot what she wanted to talk about.

Unfortunately she did not, she was just taking her time. When finally Idra got out of the bathroom she sat next to Lis and took her data-pad.

“this book, ‘screaming whispers’ do you know anything about it? Like the author, the time it was written or the existence of a physical copy. Was there anything strange about it? Like people not remembering it?”

Why is she so obsessed with this book and what are those strange questions. It’s creeping me out.

“I’m the one that founded and bought the physical copy, I found it interesting and…”

“did the seller remember to have it? Did it had a price on it like all other books?”

“I… I…”

Lis was starting to feel uneasy. She was remembering when she bought it. The old seller and the unknown price.

“no, it didn’t have a price. The old woman running the book-store didn’t even remembered having it. she just sold it to me for 10 UC (unified credit).”

“have you ever seen the old woman again?”

“I got there 2 years later and there was her grand daughter taking care of everything, she told me she died of age in her sleep 2 years… earlier…”

Lis was staring to connecting all the strange dot left behind by that book.

“what the fuck. It’s just a book, there are no supernatural shit… right?”

“you are right, there are not supernatural shit. It’s all science but how advance is it?”

“what you mean advance science, it’s just a book”

“do you have the physical copy?”

“yes, I can let you take a look”

Lis liked that book so she brought it with her on her ship. It was inside a small drawer in her cabin. She took it and give it to Idra. Lis could tell that she was astonished by the book itself.

“it’s the same. The same fucking book and the same fucking author. So it’s no normal book”

“Do you mind filling me in Idra?”

“when I was little I live in a big house with my family. One day I was exploring the massive house and found an abandoned warehouse. It was old and filled with useless junk, but I found a book. ‘silent whispers’ by unknown authors. it’s almost the same book”

Idra continued with the book summary. In ‘Silent whispers’ the princess Iris is is the latest princess of an ancient and mystical empire. The book never specify her species nor gave details about all humanoids creature that are in the book, it’s the same as Lis’s book. However Idra’s story took a different route. The princess met an old wise man who offered his help to increase her power. Iris was the last dark magician and was feared for being such creature. The wise man told her to look around herself. The more she knew the stronger her power would become. Soon she started to see her empire problems and decided that she had an obligation to fix all those problems. The wise man had nothing more to teach her and left. Rationality soon left the table. All peaceful ways where met with refusal. She had to do something even if it meant violence and blood because the enemy was coming. With force and power she put an end to everything that was not needed. It took her all her life to correct all the empire, all its problems and its people. In the end and old Iris is sitting on her throne while the last enemy of the empire are rotting for their sins. A new free era was starting, and era of freedom without external interference.

“see, it’s the same book but this is probably Iris prospective while the other is the enemy one.”

“ok, but even if you say so, and the strange coincidence about the seller, it’s all a mass of random events.”

“that’s the point, it would have been random if the second book was not in my possession when I was little. Esterians live in the outer region of the civilized space. We come back only 16 years ago to assist your kind. How could a book so similar with the same author be in two different planet if there was never a connection between us. Just by looking at this book it has at least 50 years. Our first contact, as said, was 16 years ago.”

“fuck it’s so absurd that it make sense. However I didn’t see your book. You could be just trying to scare me for fun, I guess”

“is it funny to scare people? Never-mind, I’m not joking. I have my copy on my ship, that as you could tell is following us, once we land we could see if my memory isn’t pulling trick on me”

I knew it, her ship is following us. But we may have bigger problem ahead that her ship illegally following us. Her reasoning is correct. A pair of books about the same character, with a really similar story that could be easily seen as two side of the same coin. More importantly those books seems to be older then the first contact and commercial trade from our species. How is…

“I think those books are artefact of unknown origins. Would you mind helping me a bit. I will open the first space. Then we both read our the first line”

“are you gone mental. Are you thinking it’s going to change languages base on the reader?”

“not the reader, but the user that is a bit different. If it goes as planned you won’t be able to read it”

Idra opened the book and as she predicted Lis was unable to read even a single letter. The strange esterian alphabet was all over the pages, not a single word with leans letter as it was when she read it the first time.

“What the fuck! How is it possible. I could swear it was written in Leanir (Lean’s language)” Lis took the book from Idra hands, out of misbelieving but doing so changed the letters of all the book to appear as her native languages.

“this prove my theory. Now I have more questions than answers. Why are there two similar books in different positions. For what I know the previous alien specie didn’t live in peace and it didn't happened 50 years ago for sure. Then why make a book that changes by the user. If yours it the only species what is the point, you should have a shared language like our UL (unified language) that we use. Also how does this book, that we are supposing is older the our civilizations, change using our new languages. Is it reading our mind to adapt? If so, how?”

it’s been two fucking days, why is all problems with her. I just thought it was a peculiar book. Not a whatever my ass artefact of I don’t fucking know.

Lis was getting more and more agitated, she wasn’t like Idra, a soldier can get scared especially if she doesn’t know anything. Idra on the other hand was completely fine. Emotion repression or whatever esterians have is definitely working to repress a primordial anxiety that the unknown usually generate in living creatures.

“do, do you think… it’s harmful?”

“I don’t know, I can’t trust you completely to tell you how it when on my end with my book but I suppose it’s not. My intuition is telling me that those books are trying to reconnect together or they are trying to connect us, the owners. I’m pretty sure that if you give it away, soon after it will be back like mine did. Maybe it’s not the case, but I tried to share mine with my sisters. I wanted to put it in the common library but for some strange reason all my sister thought that it should have belonged to me only. That it was my treasure for my adventures and that they cannot take such precious item from me. I knew it was mine, but I didn’t mind sharing.”

Lis was holding back her tears, she had to look strong and not scared at all. Some unknown book was after her and apparently even an esterian was unable to stop it. However even in her conditions she could feel that by looking at the calm and collected Idra a bit of the anxiety disappearing. It was as if Idra presence could bring peace to her mind.

“I think we should bring the book together and see what happens. It may be a new start for some unknown adventure.”

“or it can be the start for our first and last adventure together. I’m not that comfortable with it. You know totally unknown stuff.”

“oh come on, you are a scavenger like me. Unknown and discovery are what keep us going. You can’t be scared of an inanimate object that apparently is capable of mind control”

“you make it sound like it’s all fun and game. I guess you really have no fears”

“it’s not right. I do get scared some times. But not by this books. The unknown doesn’t scare me. To be honest it’s the opposite. I love discovering things. But we are not all equal, however let me phase it in a different way. You can die bravely exploring the unknown hoping to make some discoveries that will elevate your people, or you can sit shitting you pants and trembling in fear waiting for an end. The universe is way bigger than us and it’s full of monsters. I will die fighting them off not running from them.”

“well having such inspiring figure beside me helps a bit. I guess we should go to bed. We can’t do anything until we reach Icar 3° and put the books together”

“you are right. Good night Scilla” as she said so Idra moved to her bed and got in. Lis waited for her and then.

“good night Idra” so she turned off the light. It was not going to be a peaceful night for Lis. All the book shit was a bit too much for her. She was a scavenger but up until now their unknown consisted in ancient ruins with rusty defence robots, not a thinking book that probably is after some mysterious shit.